- Colombia.Iván Duque calls the "national dialogue" to stop the protests
The death of Colombian student Dilan Cruz, 18, wounded on Saturday by police during a peaceful demonstration in Bogotá, shocked his country on Monday, on the fifth day of protests against President Iván Duque.
Cruz died Monday night at the San Ignacio Hospital, in the Chapinero neighborhood, where he had been admitted on Saturday afternoon after a stun bomb fired by the Police Riot Squadron (Esmad) of the Police wounded him seriously in the head when he was in the central 19th Avenue to participate in the anti-government protest.
"With regret we inform you that, despite the attention given during these days in our Intensive Care Unit, Dilan Cruz, due to his clinical condition, has just died. Our sympathetic feelings of condolences to his family and people close to him", The hospital said in a statement.
Cruz thus becomes the first fatal victim of police violence in Colombia since the protests began and joins three other people who died in riots last Thursday in the cities of Buenaventura and Candelaria, in the department of Valle del Cauca (southwest).
Since Thursday, tens of thousands of Colombians attend daily demonstrations initially called by workers' centrals and social movements against possible labor, pension and tax reforms of the Government, among other causes.
POSTUM TRIBUTE
After knowing the death of Dilan Cruz, who on Tuesday should have received a bachelor's degree from the Ricaurte School, in the south of Bogotá, dozens of citizens came to the vicinity of the San Ignacio Hospital to reject police violence and demand justice.
With a banner that read "Esmad murderer" and pans in hand, they blocked the Seventh Race by lying on the ground and keeping a minute of silence as a tribute to the victim.
Social networks caught fire with messages of support to his family and in rejection of the attacks of the Esmad against the peaceful protest with tendencies such as "Dilan", "He was killed", "Murderer", "The 26N unemployment continues", "Desmonte of Esmad already "and" Neither forgiveness nor forgetfulness ".
The Ombudsman joined the voices of condolences and in his Twitter account he deeply regretted the death of the young Dilan Cruz. For his memory, that he be the last person to die in these circumstances.
"We deeply regret the death of young Dilan Cruz. We express our sincere condolences to his mother, his grandfather and his two sisters. I reiterate my solidarity with this family," Duque wrote on the same social network, a message that was answered with numerous reproaches and condemnations to his Government.
DIALOGUES IN SUSPENSE
The president called on Monday the unions that organized the protests against his Government to a meeting that will take place on Tuesday, what the country expected from the first day of the demonstrations, although after the death of Dilan Cruz this meeting is in doubt.
The announcement of the meeting was made by the Minister of Labor, Alicia Arango, who told reporters that "tomorrow the president will meet with the representatives of the national strike at a first meeting" that will take place at the Casa de Nariño, residence of the president and Executive headquarters ..
"Then other sectors will come to meet also to express any other concerns they have about the change they want Colombia to make," the minister added.
A COMPANY DAY
The concentrations of this Monday passed in absolute calm and with music on an afternoon marked by the diversity of the participants among which there were groups of feminists, Christians, students, retirees and the LGBTI community.
"We believe that we do not have to remain silent in the face of the injustices, the pension, labor and fiscal reforms that the Government will advance (process), and the backward movement of social guarantees and human rights that this Government poses for Colombians," said Estela Colmenares, one of the protesters.
Among the crowd stood out a group of women from the Evangelical Christian Church who carried posters with messages like "Jesus also hurts injustice", "The Lord gives strength to his people, the Lord blesses him with peace" or "We can not have a relationship with Jesus Christ ignoring the injustice of this world. "
In Bogotá, the concentration site was the National Park, where tens of thousands of people sang songs and then continued to San Ignacio Hospital to express their support for Dilan, which has become a symbol of resistance for protesters.
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